Name:

Lesson will be taught on:

Signature of CT:

Mentor Text Writing Lesson Plan Assignment

A. TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Write using appropriate organizational strategies

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

3.8 The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository.
d) Use organizational strategies to structure writing according to type.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

UNDERSTAND – The students will understand that writing should proceed in a logical and
organized order.

KNOW – The students will know how to structure their writing with an effective beginning, middle
and end.

DO – The students will take the perspective of an animal and write a story in the form of diary
entries, which should include a clear beginning, middle and end.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

I will informally assess student learning by listening to how the students describe diaries, including their
organization, structure, and point of view. I will formally assess student learning by having each student
choose their favorite animal, and then write at least 3 diary entries from the perspective of their animal. I will
also be looking to see if more than 1 sentence is written for each of the 3 entries, as well as if the entries
include a proper introduction, elaboration, and conclusion.

PART TWO: LESSON PLAN PROCEDURE

A. CONTEXT OF LESSON

I will be teaching students how to structure their narrative writing with a clear beginning, middle and end
using the mentor text Diary of a Worm. I will implement this lesson to the whole class during their language
arts block. I am choosing to implement this lesson with the whole group because effectively structuring and
organizing writing is a crucial literacy skill that all of the students need to practice and further develop.

The students have not yet read this book, so I will read the majority of the story to the class. However, I will
omit certain pages that are not crucial to the story or lesson topic for the sake of time. After reading the
selected sections from the book, I will return to the beginning, middle, and end of the story and discuss how
they were effective in telling the whole story. After, I will review what a journal/diary is and how it is generally
composed, and then instruct the students on the guidelines they are to follow when writing their own journal
entries. These include taking the perspective of their favorite animal and writing at least 3 diary entries,
which serve as the beginning, middle and end of their stories.
Name:
Lesson will be taught on:
Signature of CT:
I chose to focus on writing organization and use Diary of a Worm as my mentor text because my CT
recommended it to me. The activity in my lesson, however, was my own idea.
B. MATERIALS NEEDED
 Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, Pictures by Harry Bliss (CT)
 Paper (Myself)
 Pencils (CT)
C. PROCEDURE
CONNECT
Students learn why today’s
instruction is important to them
as writers and how the lesson
relates to their prior work (if
applicable). The teaching point is
stated.
Before
During TEACH
The teacher shows the students
how writers accomplish the
teaching point in the mentor text
Once the whole group has gathered on the rug, I will
inform them that I am going to teach them how to better
organize their writing using the book The Diary of a
Worm. Before reading the book, I will ask the group,
“What are 3 things that a story almost always has?” and
tell them to turn and talk to a partner about what they
think these are. After they have discussed, I will ask one
or two students to share their ideas about what almost
every story has. After this, I will make it clear that almost
any story has a beginning, middle and end. Then I will
say, “Some types of writing, however, do not have a
clear beginning, middle and end, depending on what the
writing is trying to tell us,” and I will ask the students if
they know any types of writing that don’t have a these
three elements. I will then clarify that some nonfiction
writing does not have a clear beginning, middle or end,
and that a diary typically does not have an ending
because people often just stop writing in them for one
reason or another. “But, this story (A Diary of a Worm)
has a pretty clear ending, and we’ll see why that is when
we get to the end of the book.” I will then tell the
students to pay attention to what’s happening in the
beginning, middle and end of the book so we can talk
about it after we read. I will then read the selected
sections from Diary of a Worm.
After finishing, I will return to the beginning of the book
(pg. 1-2) and ask the students to raise their hands and
tell me what they liked about the introduction, and what
makes it a good beginning to the story. After letting
students share their thoughts, I will clarify that it is a
good introduction because it clearly introduces the main
character, and grabs the readers attention with humor
by having the worm’s dad eat newspaper. I will also
Name:
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ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
After we teach something,
students are given a chance to
practice what has just been
taught with new writing or
revising a prior piece. (May
assess during this time)
mention that it leaves us curious as to how “the earth
gives us everything we need” (pg.1) and “when we dig
tunnels, we help take care of the earth.” (pg. 2), making
us want to read more to find out.
I will then turn to a middle section (pg. 13-14), and ask
the students why they think these pages make a good
middle part of the story. After the students share their
thoughts, I will tell them that these pages make a good
middle to the story because they give us more
information about the life of a worm. They tell us about
the worm’s family, as well as what kinds of other animals
the worm interacts with in his daily life. This additional
information makes the story more interesting for the
reader because it makes the worm’s life relatable to the
readers, as humans also have families and interact with
others.
Finally, I will turn to the ending of the book, and ask the
students why they think these pages (pg. 29-32) make a
good ending to the story. After allowing them to share
their thoughts, I will tell them that it is an effective
ending because the story refocuses on the main
character, gives a sense of resolution, and relates it
back to the beginning of the book by having a similar
writing structure. (Lists were used at the beginning and
end of the book)
I will tell the students that they are to take the
perspective of their favorite animal, like the author of
Diary of a Worm did, and write at least 3 diary entries for
that animal, with one entry being a beginning, middle
and end to the diary. I will also briefly go over the
structure of a diary, and how it is composed of several
entries that are dated on the day they were written. I will
then tell students that their entries should be structured
in this way. I will then say that the beginning of their
diary should let the reader know what kind of animal
they are, and I will suggest that they could do this by
describing how they look, where they live, or why they
are important to the world. Then I will tell them that their
middle entry/entries should expand on their animal and
give details about what it might do on a daily basis. This
might include descriptions of interactions with other
animals or how their animals interact with their families,
similar to what the book did. Finally, I will tell them that
their ending entry should be similar to their beginning
Name:
Lesson will be taught on:
Signature of CT:
After LINK
The teacher reiterates what has
just been taught and gives
students an opportunity to share
(May assess during this time)
entry, and that it might say in a few words, what it’s like,
or why it’s a good or bad thing to be the animal they are
taking the perspective of. After explaining the
instructions, I will hover around the room and offer
assistance as needed.
Once the students have finished their writing, I will allow
anyone that wants to share their work to do so with the
class. For each student that shares, I will point out the
positive aspects of their work and reiterate how they
made an effective beginning, middle or end. I will end
the lesson by mentioning that almost every good story
has a beginning, middle and end, but not all do, and
that’s okay. However, when the students do have to
write narratives in the future, they should make sure
their beginnings introduce their main idea, their middles
elaborate on that idea, and their endings have a sense
of resolution.

D. DIFFERENTIATION

There are four students in the class that are on a first grade reading level and struggle with reading and
writing. For these students, I will allow them to use their laptops to write the diary entries, as this will make it
possible for them to produce legible work at a more efficient pace. These students will also only be required
to write one sentence for each diary entry. I will also hover around these students and monitor them closely
so I can offer assistance as needed. For students that finish their three entries early, I will challenge them to
add more detail to their entries, or write more middle entries altogether to create a more complex diary.

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

The students may have difficulties coming up with an ending diary entry, as a conclusion is not typically
present in any sort of diary since it is an ongoing process of writing. For the students that struggle with this,
I will help them by giving them frames such as “write about why it is good or bad to be the animal they have
chosen” or “write about what your animal hopes to do in the future.”
Name:
Lesson will be taught on:
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RUBRIC

8 Points Total 1 – Area of 2 - Developing 3 - Meeting 4 - Exceeding

Concern
Entry Structure The student The student The student The student
writes no writes 1 entry writes 2 entries writes 3 or
entries that are that is a clear that are either more entries
a clear beginning, a beginning that are a clear
beginning, middle, or and middle, a beginning,
middle or ending to their beginning and middle and
ending to their story. ending, or an ending to their
story. ending and a story.
middle to their
story.
Entry The student The student The student The student
Components writes entries writes entries writes entries writes entries
that are not that are less that contain that contain
complete than two two or more two or more
sentences and sentences and sentences, but sentences, plus
lack dates. lack dates. lack dates. dates.

PART THREE: REFLECTION

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts
below to guide the writing of your 6- paragraph reflection (1 paragraph for each letter). Be thorough in
your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

A. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and
explain why you made them.
B. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a
better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
C. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student
learning? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the
classroom teacher?
D. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
children as learners?
E. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching?
F. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself?